Terry Hendrickson, of Park Ridge, Elected First Vice President, Union League Club of Chicago

CHICAGO, ILL,-- July 9, 2015-- Terry R. Hendrickson has been elected first vice president of the Union League Club of Chicago, a 136-year-old non-partisan civic, cultural and philanthropic organization. From 2005 to 2008, Hendrickson served as a Club director and chaired the athletic committee.

Hendrickson also currently serves as president of the Union League Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago one of the three independent philanthropic foundations of the Union League Club of Chicago.

Hendrickson, a Park Ridge resident, is Vice President of Business Development - Midwest for the Chicago Title Insurance Company's National Commercial Services.

He received a bachelor of science degree in finance from the University of Illinois and earned a master of business administration degree from Northwestern University.

Hendrickson participates in a variety of civic and professional organizations. He is past president of the alumni association for the University of Illinois College of Business; a past president of the Chicago Real Estate Council; a director and past president of the Kappa Kappa Corporation of Sigma Chi; a board member of the Real Estate Center at DePaul University and is a member of the Urban Land Institute.

An active member of the Union League Club of Chicago since 1978, Hendrickson has served on a variety of committees, including member events, admissions, membership, house and finance. Hendrickson formerly served as chair of the Club's real estate group. He is also a trustee for Luminarts Cultural Foundation and an emeritus trustee of the Chicago Engineers' Foundation. He is a counselor for the Chicago 502 and is a member of the 721 Club, two civilian U.S. military support groups affiliated with the Union League Club of Chicago

The Union League Club of Chicago traces its roots to 1862 when Chicago Tribune editor Joseph Medill and other Midwest civic leaders launched a movement in support of a somewhat fragile federal union under the banner, "Union Leagues of America." In 1879, the Chicago Club of the Union Leagues of America was incorporated and in 1882 changed its name to the Union League Club of Chicago.

Today, the Club's members are men and women who are active proponents of the Club's commitment to community, country and culture through a broad range of public, civic, cultural and philanthropic activities that impact the Chicago metropolitan area, the state of Illinois, surrounding states and the nation.

The Club also is recognized as owning the oldest and most important collection of American fine art, more than 800 pieces, held by a private organization in the Midwest.

Originally from Manteno, Illinois, Hendrickson has been married to his wife, Donna, for 42 years and they are the parents of two daughters, Lindsey (Jeff) Hejza and Stacy (Matt) Benefield.

About the Union League Club of Chicago

Club Leaders Forum, an independent national survey of 7,000 club managers, presidents, directors and owners, has named the Union League Club of Chicago the number one private city club in the U.S.

In 1879, the Club's founders, members of Chicago's business, civic, cultural and political leadership, were motivated by the legacy of the Union Leagues of America, patriotic organizations that formed during the Civil War to raise funds for the Union Army. Following the end of the war, these individuals established a private club dedicated to upholding democracy, instilling patriotism in future generations, and providing ongoing support for America's military.

The Club has focused attention on critical public policy issues and stimulated action on important non-partisan initiatives.

Members of the Union League Club of Chicago have been credited with playing important roles in establishing many of the city's leading cultural organizations including: The Art Institute of Chicago, Orchestra Hall, the Auditorium Theater and the Field Museum.

Early leaders of the Union League Club, including architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root; merchant Harlow Higginbotham, a partner of Marshall Field; and Club president, Frederick Peck, were instrumental in creating the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Fair drew 27 million people from the United States and abroad, demonstrated dramatic recovery from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and positioned Chicago as a world- class city.

Since its inception, the Union League Club of Chicago has supported the men and women of the U.S military and their families through numerous initiatives.

The Club is headquarters for the Armed Forces Council of Chicago, a non-profit organization that works closely with the City of Chicago and regional military commands in support of public celebrations involving the Armed Forces, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day and Armed Forces Week.

Two civilian military support groups operate within the Union League Club under the aegis of the Armed Forces Council: the "Chicago 502 Club," a unit that assists the soldiers and families of the elite 502nd Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army and the" 721 Club," a unit that aids the crew and families of the U.S. Navy's USS Chicago 721, a nuclear submarine.

Members of the Club are taking a leadership role in the Commissioning Committee of SSN 786, USS Illinois, the U.S. Navy's newest nuclear powered submarine currently under construction at Groton, Connecticut where it is scheduled to be christened later this year and commissioned early in 2016.

In cooperation with the Medal of Honor Society and the Pritzker Military Library, the Club has been privileged to host Medal of Honor recipients.

Since its founding, the Union League Club of Chicago is the only private club in the United States with a full-time public affairs staff who help Club members focus attention on critical public policy issues and stimulate action on important non-partisan initiatives.

Early in its history, the Union League Club protected the City of Chicago's municipal personnel code and urged adoption of what became the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that mandated election of U.S. Senators by popular vote instead of state legislators.

Recognized for its work in promoting election and judicial reforms, the Union League Club is credited with launching the Chicago Crime Commission and helping to shape a new Illinois state Constitution in 1970.

More recently, the Union League Club's Public Affairs Committee led the charge to establish Chicago's Harold Washington Library, the largest public library building in the world, and also advocated a moratorium on executions in Illinois.

To help reduce recidivism rates of the mentally ill in the Cook County Jail, the Club worked with other civic groups to successfully amend Illinois' Medicaid law to suspend rather than terminate Medicaid eligibility of mentally ill persons who are detained, so that critical medical and counseling services they depend upon can be more readily re-instated following their release.

Among the Club's current initiatives are the improvement of regional transportation, literacy programs and education funding in Illinois. It also invites candidates for major public offices to participate in non-partisan public forums.

The Union League Club of Chicago sponsors three independent philanthropic foundations: Union League Boys and Girls Clubs which serve more than 12,900 youth annually in eight locations in the City of Chicago and a residential summer camp in southern Wisconsin; Luminarts Cultural Foundation that provides scholarships and grants in art, music, writing, performance, civic and academics for hundreds of young people; and the Chicago Engineers' Foundation, that grants incentive awards to engineering students. # # #